Cong gives ‘proof’ Raje, kin usurped palace

JAIPUR: The Congress stepped up pressure against Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Tuesday by producing fresh documents for the second consecutive day to prove its claim that Dholpur Palace is a state-owned property which was usurped by the chief minister’s family.
Releasing the documents, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said there was a “criminal nexus” between Raje’s family and former IPL chief Lalit Modi.Dholpur Palace, located 40 km from Agra, is worth Rs 300 crores and Modi invested nearly Rs 13 crore between 2007 and 2008.
Among the documents that Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh produced before the press in Delhi was the ‘list of properties’ of the erstwhile ruler of Dholpur and Raje’s father-in-law, Rana Udaibhan Singh, which showed Dholpur Palace as “ownership of the State” as on April 13, 1949.
“Facts and documents produced yesterday conclusively established that the ‘City Palace, Dholpur, Rajasthan’ vests in ‘Government’ after the merger of Dholpur State with Indian Union after Independence and ceased to be the property of late Rana Udaibhan Singh,” Ramesh said.
However, the BJP countered Congress claim with state party president Ashok Parnami claiming that the palace was restored to Dushyant Singh’s father Hemant Singh in 1958 and was handed over to Dushyant in 2007 as part of a compromise between the father and the son.
“The 1958 documents clearly show that the Government of India had restored the Dholpur City Palace to Hemant Singh. Another property of his, Kesarbagh, was taken over by the Government of India during the same time. With the developments of 1958, the 1949 papers stand invalid,” argued Parnami.
But Ramesh presented papers contradicting the BJP claim that Hemant Singh transferred Dholpur Palace to his son through a Bharatpur court order. The Congress spokesperson said the compromise dated May 17, 2007, was only with regard to ‘movables’ in Dholpur Palace and did not transfer the ownership of immovable property – the palace itself.
Ramesh also produced a letter dated April 10, 1954, issued by Ministry of States, Government of India, which gave details of private moveable and immovable properties of Rana Udaibhan Singh but did not include the Dholpur Palace. Ramesh pointed out that Raje’s estranged husband Hemant Singh had admitted in a written statement submitted in a court on November 14, 1980, that Dholpur Palace was a property of the State. Besides, Raje, in an affidavit in a litigation dated August 11, 2005, had also admitted that Dholpur Palace was situated as ‘government property’ in revenue records, claimed Ramesh.
Parnami described Congress allegations as misleading. He said Dushyant Singh’s business dealing involving Dholpur Palace was not illegal as the property was owned by him and he had documents to prove that. But the BJP leaders didn’t share the documents with the media. “For documents, you file an RTI,” was the reply of Parnami when reporters asked for papers during a press conference in Jaipur.
Parnami said following the compromise with his father, Dushyant had taken “physical possession” of the Dholpur Palace. He added that in at least five places in the court document, it was clearly specified that Dushyant had the ownership rights of Dholpur Palace and had the “full rights” to sell or lease out the movable and immovable properties in question.